


Out in the Cold

by avesnongrata



Series: Maria/Natasha Ficlet Collection [9]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Huddling For Warmth, Hypothermia, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 22:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6027532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avesnongrata/pseuds/avesnongrata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I refuse to fall victim to the 'keep you alive with my body heat' cliché. Just keep moving."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to mdryly, who suggested ‘out in the cold’ + **danger**  
>  Part of my Femslash February festivities.

"We've got to keep moving," Natasha shouts over the rush of wind.

The head shake Maria gives in reply speaks more of confusion than disagreement. _Not good_. "This is the extraction site. If we keep moving we'll overshoot."

Natasha sets her jaw and shifts her pack a little higher on her shoulder. "If we don't, you'll freeze to death."

"I'm fine."

"Hill, don't think I didn't notice how blue your lips are." Or the fact that Maria stopped shivering about a mile ago...

"Come warm them up for me," Maria slurs. The twitch of her lips is supposed to be a smirk, but Natasha recognizes the loss of muscle control behind the expression. She's seen all of this before, too many times to count. She knows what comes next if that quinjet doesn't show up soon.

As scared as she is, Natasha forces a laugh. "That's tempting, but I refuse to fall victim to the 'keep you alive with my body heat' cliché. Just keep moving."

"You're no fun," Maria grumbles. She only lasts two more staggering steps before pitching forward. Her body is little more than dead weight in Natasha's arms as she catches her and lowers her gently into the snow.

Apprehension gives way to panic, colder even than the icy wind still threatening to tear the flesh from her cheeks. With no shelter to speak of and god knows how long before the evac team reaches them, there's little else to do but wait and hope for the best. Natasha clutches Maria to her chest and wraps her body around her in a last ditch attempt to shield her from the cold.

"I take it back," Natasha grits out, trying not to think about how quickly the condensation from her breath crystalizes on Maria's eyelashes. "I'll do whatever it takes to get you out of here alive."


	2. Chapter 2

Maria slowly regains consciousness to find herself surrounded by a warm, heavy weight. For several minutes she simply lies still, trying to reconcile the warmth with the flashes of icy wind that carry over from her dream. Her memory? None of this makes sense. Reluctantly, she opens her eyes.

Beside her, a very relieved medic wastes no time helping her sit up and get her bearings. "You're in the medbay on the helicarrier," he explains calmly, before Maria can even think to ask. "You were dangerously hypothermic, but we were able to get your core temperature back up to normal. You're going to be just fine, aside from some possible scarring from the frostbite. We'll do what we can to minimize it, but the important thing is you're alive. You have Agent Romanoff to thank for that."

_Natasha_. "Where is she? Is she okay?" The medic only hesitates for a fraction of a second, but Maria flinches at the sudden stab of panic that seizes her. "What happened?"

The medic sets a firm hand on her shoulder as she struggles to get up. "Agent Hill, you need to calm down. It's a small miracle you're alive. If Agent Romanoff hadn't known exactly how to keep you safe, you'd both be dead right now."

"I won't 'calm down' until you tell me what fucking happened!" Maria shouts, though she lets the medic restrain her. She doesn't have the strength to fight him anyway.

"By the time the evac team reached you, your core temperature had dropped below 80⁰, and hers wasn't much higher. From what I understand, they practically had to drag her away from you so they could treat you both, and she lost consciousness soon after. We were able to raise her temperature, but--" The medic pauses, choosing his words with care. It takes all of Maria's willpower not to cuff him upside the head. "There were complications. She isn't out of the woods yet."

_I’ll do whatever it takes to get you out of here alive._

Maria isn't sure whether she heard the words or dreamed them, but they echo through her head and settle like a weight on her chest. "I need to see her."

"Agent Hill, I don't think--"

"It can't hurt."

Both Maria and the medic turn their attention to the doctor standing in the doorway. In her distress, Maria hadn't even heard her approach.

"You're stable enough to move," the doctor continues after consulting the tablet in her hand, "and if Romanoff stops fighting, we'll lose her. Putting the two of you together may not help matters, but it certainly won't hurt. Come on."

It takes some doing, but the doctor and the medic manage to help Maria into a wheelchair. Usually, the kid-gloves treatment would set Maria's teeth on edge, but she's found herself under this med team's care often enough to know that obstinacy is the best way to land herself right back in bed, so she lets them move her down the hall, blankets, heat packs, IV drip and all.

Natasha's room is just as oppressively warm as Maria's, though after all this, Maria doubts she'll ever complain about the heat again. In fact, all thoughts about the temperature quickly vanish from her mind the moment she sees Natasha in the bed. The sheer number of tubes and equipment surrounding her is alarming, but Maria wants nothing more than to climb under all those blankets and heat packs and keep Natasha warm herself. Her hands and face are too raw with frostbite for Maria to touch, though, so she settles for resting her hand lightly on Natasha's belly. This way, at least she can feel the rise and fall of each weak breath.

"Come on, Nat," Maria pleads, her voice dangerously close to breaking. "You've already given in to the ‘keep me alive with your body heat’ cliché. Don't you dare fall for the 'give your life to save mine' cliché, too." 

It doesn’t happen all at once, but Maria swears each breath Natasha takes grows a little stronger than the last. At first, she’s convinced she’s seeing things but no, a moment later Natasha’s eyelids flutter again. The doctor watches the equipment by the head of the bed with bated breath, but none of the lines or numbers mean anything to Maria. Her eyes never leave Natasha’s face.

When Natasha finally opens her eyes, Maria’s face is the first thing she sees.


End file.
